Amazon Linux 2023 must automatically lock the root account until the root account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-274155 | SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128 | AZLX-23-002460 | SV-274155r1120453_rule | 2025-07-15 | 1 |
| Description |
|---|
| By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. |
| ℹ️ Check |
|---|
| Verify Amazon Linux 2023 is configured to lock the root account after three unsuccessful logon attempts with the command: $ grep even_deny_root /etc/security/faillock.conf even_deny_root If the "even_deny_root" option is not set, is missing or commented out, this is a finding. |
| ✔️ Fix |
|---|
| Configure Amazon Linux 2023 to lock out the "root" account after a number of incorrect login attempts using "pam_faillock.so", first enable the feature using the following command: $ sudo authselect enable-feature with-faillock Then edit the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file as follows: add or uncomment the following line: even_deny_root |